[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 102 (Friday, May 24, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45832-45834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-11484]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-583-872]


Certain Paper Shopping Bags From Taiwan: Final Affirmative 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Final Affirmative 
Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that 
certain paper shopping bags (paper bags) from Taiwan are being, or are 
likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). 
The period of investigation is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

DATES: Applicable May 24, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nathan James, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5305.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On January 3, 2024, Commerce published in the Federal Register its 
preliminary determination in the LTFV investigation of paper bags from 
Taiwan, in which we also postponed the final determination until May 
17, 2024.\1\ We invited interested parties to comment on the 
Preliminary Determination.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Paper Shopping Bags from Taiwan: Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 
Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional 
Measures, 89 FR 331 (January 3, 2023) (Preliminary Determination), 
and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    \2\ See Preliminary Determination, 89 FR at 332-3.
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    A summary of the events that occurred since Commerce published the 
Preliminary Determination, as well as a full discussion of the issues 
raised by parties for this final determination, may be found in the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum.\3\ The Issues and Decision

[[Page 45833]]

Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via 
Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to 
registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 
version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.
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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Final 
Affirmative Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation 
of Certain Paper Shopping Bags from Taiwan, and Final Affirmative 
Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and 
Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are paper bags from 
Taiwan. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, 
see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    During the course of this investigation, Commerce received scope 
comments from parties. Commerce issued a Preliminary Scope Decision 
Memorandum to address these comments and set aside a period of time for 
parties to address scope issues in scope-specific case and rebuttal 
briefs.\4\ We received comments from parties on the Preliminary Scope 
Decision Memorandum, which we addressed in the Final Scope Decision 
Memorandum.\5\ We made no changes to the scope of the investigation 
from the scope published in the Preliminary Determination, as shown in 
Appendix I to this notice.
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum,'' 
dated December 27, 2023 (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Final Scope Decision Memorandum,'' dated 
March 11, 2024 (Final Scope Decision Memorandum).
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Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances

    We continue to find that critical circumstances exist for imports 
of paper bags from Taiwan from Juang Jia Guoo Co., Ltd. (JJG); we find 
that critical circumstances do not exist for Haur Tyi Paper Bag Co., 
Ltd. (Haurtyi) and for all other producers and exporters, pursuant to 
sections 735(a)(3)(A) and (B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), and 19 CFR 351.206. For further discussion of this issue, 
see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we conducted 
verifications of the sales and cost information submitted by Haurtyi 
for use in our final determination. We used standard verification 
procedures, including an examination of relevant sales and accounting 
records and original source documents provided by Haurtyi.\6\
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    \6\ See Memoranda, ``Verification of the Sales Response of Haur 
Tyi Paper Bag Co., Ltd. in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of 
Certain Paper Shopping Bags from Taiwan,'' dated April 15, 2024; and 
``Verification of the Cost Response of Haur Tyi Paper Bag Co., Ltd. 
in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain Paper Shopping Bags 
from Taiwan,'' dated April 15, 2024.
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Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs submitted by 
interested parties in this investigation are addressed in the Issues 
and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues addressed in the Issues 
and Decision Memorandum is attached as Appendix II to this notice.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    We have made certain changes to the margin calculations for Haurtyi 
since the Preliminary Determination, and we have modified the margin 
assigned to JJG. For a discussion of these changes, see the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.

Use of Adverse Facts Available

    As discussed in the Preliminary Determination, Commerce assigned to 
mandatory respondent JJG an estimated weighted-average dumping margin 
on the basis of facts available with adverse inferences (AFA), pursuant 
to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.\7\ There is no new information 
on the record that would cause us to revisit our decision in the 
Preliminary Determination. Accordingly, for the reasons explained in 
the Preliminary Determination, and consistent with Commerce's practice, 
as AFA, we assigned JJG the highest corroborated dumping margin alleged 
in the petition.\8\
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    \7\ See Preliminary Determination, 89 FR at 331.
    \8\ See, e.g., Welded Stainless Pressure Pipe from Thailand: 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 79 FR 31093 
(May 30, 2014), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum 
(IDM) at Comment 3; see also Checklist, ``Antidumping Duty 
Investigation Initiation Checklist: Certain Paper Shopping Bags from 
Taiwan,'' dated June 20, 2023.
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All-Others Rate

    Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin for all other producers and exporters 
not individually investigated shall be equal to the weighted average of 
the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for 
exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding rates that 
are zero, de minimis, or determined entirely under section 776 of the 
Act.
    In this investigation, Commerce assigned an individual estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin to JJG entirely under section 776 of 
the Act. Therefore, the only rate that is not zero, de minimis, or 
based entirely on facts otherwise available is the rate calculated for 
Haurtyi. Consequently, Commerce is assigning the rate calculated for 
Haurtyi as the rate for all other producers and exporters, pursuant to 
section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act.

Final Determination

    The final estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as 
follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Haur Tyi Paper Bag Co., Ltd.................................        4.74
Juang Jia Guoo Co., Ltd.....................................     * 65.81
All Others..................................................        4.74
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* Rate based on AFA.

Disclosure

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed in this final 
determination within five days of the date of publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(4) of the Act, because Commerce 
continues to find that critical circumstances exist for JJG, we will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of entries of subject merchandise, as described in 
Appendix I of this notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse for consumption, on or after October 5, 2023, which is 90 
days prior to the date of publication of the affirmative Preliminary 
Determination in the Federal Register.
    For Haurtyi and the ``all other'' companies, we will instruct CBP 
to suspend \9\ or continue to suspend, respectively, liquidation of 
entries of paper bags from Taiwan, as described in Appendix I of this 
notice, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, 
on or after January 3, 2024, the date of publication in the Federal 
Register of the Preliminary Determination.
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    \9\ Because we preliminarily found a de minimis dumping margin 
for Haurtyi, at that time, we instructed CBP not to suspend 
liquidation of entries of subject merchandise produced and exported 
by Haurtyi.

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[[Page 45834]]

    Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(d), Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal 
to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin as follows: (1) the 
cash deposit rate for the respondents listed above will be equal to the 
company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margin determined 
in this final determination; (2) if the exporter is not a respondent 
identified above but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will 
be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping 
margin established for that producer of the subject merchandise; and 
(3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be 
equal to the all-others estimated weighted-average dumping margin. 
These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect 
until further notice.

U.S. International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of its final affirmative 
determination of sales at LTFV. Because Commerce's final determination 
in this proceeding is affirmative, in accordance with section 735(b)(2) 
of the Act, the ITC will make its final determination as to whether the 
domestic industry in the United States is materially injured, or 
threatened with material injury, by reason of imports of paper bags 
from Taiwan no later than 45 days after this final determination. If 
the ITC determines that material injury or threat of material injury 
does not exist, the proceeding will be terminated and all cash deposits 
will be refunded or canceled, and suspension of liquidation will be 
lifted. If the ITC determines that such injury does exist, Commerce 
will issue an antidumping duty order directing CBP to assess, upon 
further instruction by Commerce, antidumping duties on all imports of 
the subject merchandise that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after the effective date of the suspension of 
liquidation, as discussed above in the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' 
section above.

Administrative Protective Order

    This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to an 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely notification of the 
return, or destruction, of APO materials, or conversion to judicial 
protective order, is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the 
regulations and the terms of an APO is a violation subject to sanction.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(c).

    Dated: May 17, 2024.
Ryan Majerus,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the 
non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The products within the scope of this investigation are paper 
shopping bags with handles of any type, regardless of whether there 
is any printing, regardless of how the top edges are finished (e.g., 
folded, serrated, or otherwise finished), regardless of color, and 
regardless of whether the top edges contain adhesive or other 
material for sealing closed. Subject paper shopping bags have a 
width of at least 4.5 inches and depth of at least 2.5 inches.
    Paper shopping bags typically are made of kraft paper but can be 
made from any type of cellulose fiber, paperboard, or pressboard 
with a basis weight less than 300 grams per square meter (GSM).
    A non-exhaustive illustrative list of the types of handles on 
shopping bags covered by the scope include handles made from any 
materials such as twisted paper, flat paper, yarn, ribbon, rope, 
string, or plastic, as well as die-cut handles (whether the punchout 
is fully removed or partially attached as a flap).
    Excluded from the scope are:
     Paper sacks or bags that are of a \1/6\ or \1/7\ barrel 
size (i.e., 11.5-12.5 inches in width, 6.5-7.5 inches in depth, and 
13.5-17.5 inches in height) with flat paper handles or die-cut 
handles;
     Paper sacks or bags with die-cut handles, a grams per 
square meter paper weight of less than 86 GSM, and a height of less 
than 11.5 inches; and
     Paper sacks or bags (i) with non-paper handles made 
wholly of woven ribbon or other similar woven fabric \10\ and (ii) 
that are finished with folded tops or for which tied knots or t-bar 
aglets (made of wood, metal, or plastic) are used to secure the 
handles to the bags.
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    \10\ Paper sacks or bags with handles made of braided or twisted 
materials, such as rope or cord, do not qualify for this exclusion.
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    The above-referenced dimensions are provided for paper bags in 
the opened position. The height of the bag is the distance from the 
bottom fold edge to the top edge (i.e., excluding the height of 
handles that extend above the top edge). The depth of the bag is the 
distance from the front of the bag edge to the back of the bag edge 
(typically measured at the bottom of the bag). The width of the bag 
is measured from the left to the right edges of the front and back 
panels (upon which the handles typically are located).
    This merchandise is currently classifiable under Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 
4819.30.0040 and 4819.40.0040. The HTSUS subheadings are provided 
for convenience and customs purposes only; the written description 
of the scope is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part
IV. Changes From the Preliminary Determination
V. Discussion of the Issues
    Comment 1: Destination Reporting
    Comment 2: Differential Pricing Analysis
    Comment 3: Home-Market Bank Charges
    Comment 4: Classification of Sales Personnel Bonuses
    Comment 5: Cost Adjustment for Printing Services Obtained From 
Affiliated Suppliers
    Comment 6: Imputed Interest Expense From Interest Free Loans
    Comment 7: Revisions in Haurtyi's Latest Sales Files
    Comment 8: Treatment of May Sun Jieh Enterprise Co., Ltd.
VI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2024-11484 Filed 5-23-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P